Commentary to “Analyzing Consumer Responses to Humane-oriented CSR Advertising Appeals in an Age of Corporate Social Responsibility: The Case of Japan vs. the U.S.”

Culture is a concept that has a long history in business studies, and yet, its popularity, as either antecedent or explaining variable, has not diminished. The same seems to apply to the practitioner literature dealing with people from different backgrounds our way to conceptualize or explain the differences or difficulties is culture (Ajiferuke and Boddewyn, 1970; Pagell, Katz, and Chwen, (2005). Interestingly, even if there are numerous levels of culture – from subcultures to company cultures, – the most used concept seems to be that of national culture. Since Hofstede’s seminal work on national cultural dimensions followed by GLOBE, the research community had similarities and differences and explained them with the cultural dimension (Hofstede, 2001; Hofstede, 1991; Chhokar, Brodbeck, and House, 2008; House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, and Gupat, 2004).